Jews Prepare For Serious Reflection

Rosh Hashana Gives Rabbis Chance To Review Jewish Beliefs, Duties

As the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashana begins at sundown, Central Florida rabbis are preparing to discuss their views of faith, good works, guilt, repentance, the afterlife and celebration.

At morning services Thursday, as well as on Friday in Conservative and Orthodox congregations, the ram's horn known as the shofar is sounded.

U.S. astronaut Dave Wolf, who is Jewish, will be spending the holiday aboard the Russian space station Mir. When he flew on space shuttle Columbia in 1993, a month after Rosh Hashana, Wolf brought a shofar from his boyhood synagogue with him. He has not said if he will be able to observe the holiday this time, but Wolf will try to fast for Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown Oct. 10.

Rabbi Rudolph Adler, of the Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation, said he will contrast the observation of the secular New Year on Jan. 1 - its ''frivolity and gaiety'' - with the Jewish observance of prayer during the High Holiday period.

''Why the difference?'' Adler asked, turning to the body of Jewish law called the Talmud for an answer.

''The Talmud tells us that on Rosh Hashana all mankind is standing before God's throne and being judged, and that is very serious,'' he said.

Rabbi Aaron Rubinger, of Congregation Ohev Shalom in Orlando, said that he would also touch on the ''conflict in values between the Jewish world and the secular world.''

Of particular concern, Rubinger said, is ''the whole issue of self-fulfillment vs. being part of a family or part of a community.''

Rabbi Merrill Shapiro, of Congregation Beth Am in Longwood, said he would be offering a Jewish perspective on a long-standing debate among Christians: Is faith alone sufficient, or are good works also required?

For Jews, he said, action is vital.

''If we engage in acts, we reinforce our own Jewishness,'' he said. ''Those of us who believe we are Jewish in our hearts and souls are not in fact doing enough. We have to engage in Jewish activities.''

These include observing dietary laws, the sabbath and religious festivals. Shapiro said that such actions, called mitzvot, can prevent Jewish assimilation into secular society.

''There is a hunger to hear about theological issues, especially issues relating to death and the afterlife,'' said Rabbi Alan Londy, of Congregation Temple Israel in Orlando.

''The Jews are very hungry to know what happens to us after we're dead,'' he said.

''By accepting Western rationalism,'' Londy said, ''we feel a void. Christianity's idea of bodily resurrection is very much rooted in rabbinic Judaism. One of the Jewish versions of messianic redemption includes bodily resurrection.''

Rabbi Steven Engel, of the Congregation of Liberal Judaism in Orlando, said he also expects to touch on the afterlife in his series of High Holiday sermons. He will be using the 10-day period as a ''a metaphor for a lifetime,'' beginning with Rosh Hashana as a symbol of birth and carrying through to Yom Kippur as a reenactment of death and the beginning of the afterlife.

During these 10 days, he said, ''we are supposed to put our lives in order and ourselves in order as if that is going to happen. I'm going to suggest that people consider what mark they want to leave on the world, when they're gone.''

At Congregation Bet Chaim in Casselberry, Rabbi Rachel Smookler said she plans to talk about the implications of genetics in Jewish families, in particular those diseases to which Jews are more susceptible.

''God controls the natural fate of our bodies,'' she said, ''but we control how we cope with our circumstances.''